[Xmca-l] Re: identity expressed or formed by action?

[Andy Blunden]

That's a good answer, Laure. I interpret your answer: 
activity is the substance of mind, not some given set of 
concepts.

Thank you!

Andy

------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden
http://home.mira.net/~andy
http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making 

On 15/02/2017 9:21 PM, Laure Kloetzer wrote:
> Dear Andy,
>
> Interestingly, I had a very similar discussion with some 
> colleagues recently not on identity but on... waste. The 
> perspective of one of our students was that investigating 
> what waste is can be done via interviews, in order to 
> understand how we decide what to through away. I was 
> arguing that waste is not fully defined before action, but 
> that waste is what we through away. The action of throwing 
> away is formative of what count as "waste".
> I thought it might help to step back for one second from 
> the tricky question of self-identity and considering more 
> concrete, everyday activities before coming back to it...
> Best
> LK
>
>
> 2017-02-15 8:30 GMT+01:00 Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net 
> <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>:
>
>     I would be interested in any helpful comments (other
>     than suggestions for more books to read) from my xmca
>     psychologist friends on this problem.
>
>     In discussion with a friend, who is very au fait with
>     contemporary social philosophy, but knows nothing of
>     CHAT, suggested to me a number of ideas intended to be
>     explanatory (rather than descriptive) of current
>     social and political trends. He talks about the rise
>     of "expressive authenticity" since the 1970s and
>     "collective action as a means to express selfhood." In
>     response, I questioned whether there is any such thing
>     as a drive to *express* one's identity, and that
>     rather, collective action (and there is fundamentally
>     no other kind of action) in pursuit of needs of all
>     kinds (spiritual, social and material) is *formative*
>     of identity.
>
>     A classic case for analysis is the well-known
>     observation that nowadays people purchase (clothes,
>     cars, food, ...) as a means of expressing their
>     identity. I question this, because it presumes that
>     there is the innate drive to express one's identity,
>     which I see no evidence for. I think people adopt
>     dress styles in much the same way that people carry
>     flags - to promote a movement they think positive and
>     to gain social acceptance in it. Identity-formation is
>     a *result* not a cause of this.
>
>     So, am I wrong? Is identity formation a result or a
>     cause of activity?
>
>     Andy
>
>
>     -- 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     Andy Blunden
>     http://home.mira.net/~andy <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy>
>     http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making
>     <http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making>
>
>
>